Joss Whedon read a draft of the script gave Marvel his approval. There was some hope he would come and do some polish work but that had yet to happen at the time I was on set. (Note: he later did some rewrites.)

Thor’s journey picks up from the events in the first Thor movie, moreso than from The Avengers. Thor is having to deal with taking on the responsibility of a king, and finds the secrets and the dark side of that responsibility. Tom Hiddelson says that Loki’s family relationships have become “really interesting.” We will get to see the opinion principle Asgard characters hold about what Loki did, and the opinion is more varied than you might think. There is no one in Asgard who thinks Loki should be the king. Tom Hiddelson jokes that it was not a good idea to throw an “apocalyptic sized tantrum”. Joss Whedon encouraged Hiddleston to enjoy himself more in The Avengers, and he has brought that movie’s delight in being a psychopath to Thor 2.

Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) returns and the story picks up where they left off with the rainbow bridge being fixed. Chris Hemsworth strongly hints that Jane isn’t happy that he didn’t call her during the NYC attack.

Chris Hemsworth says he has “meatier stuff with Tom” in this film compared to the previous movies. Thor and Loki’s story will get darker and more complicated. There is more at stake is time, and its not just opposing egos. Thor and Loki have a common goal that will somehow bring them together, as the trailers have suggested. At the same time, they don’t go back to being best friends. Even though Loki attempted to kill Thor on multiple occasions, they are still brothers and Thor is ambivalent towards his intentions. Hiddleston describes his on and off again relationship with Thor as “consistently ambivalent,” as it is in the comics.

The film will also have some “fish out of water” moments, but much less compared to the first film.

They focused on making the combat more intimate so that “the losses are deeper and more personal.”

Costume Changes:

Thor sports a more casual attire for this film. Thor’s more-casual look features a dark blue suede cloak, and armor that looks more like leather, sleeveless with leather wrist bracelets and less metal.

Tom teases that there is a moment in this film where Loki wears a different costume.

We saw concept art of Odin in full warrior mode, in garb which looks more like fighting armor than royal clothing.

Star Wars Connections:

Kevin Feige describes Thor: The Dark World as “The Empire Strikes Back of Marvel’s Thor saga.”

Multiple people on the production kept referring to the dark elves as like “stormtroopers.”

Odin’s throne room set was built on stage H at Shepperton Studios, the same stage where the ceremony scene was shot for Star Wars. (It also housed the moon set for 2001.) We were walking around the stage just a few days before Disney announced they were purchasing LucasFilm and making new Star Wars movies. Stage H is very large, the biggest at Shepperton.

Shooting Details:

We were on set on October 24th and 25th 2012, about halfway through production. First unit principal photography was scheduled From September 3 to December 23rd of that year. We visited sets at both Longcross Studios and Shepperton Studios in London, but we weren’t allowed on main unit filming, as the shoot then involved a major spoiler sequence that takes place in the final act of the movie. Other movies shooting at Shepperton Studios while we were on the lot included Fast and the Furious 6 and World War Z, which was doing reshoots. Thor 2 shot on 14 states at Shepperton in addition to the builds at Longcross Studios.

The production offices on the Shepperton Studios lot were listed as “Asgard Productions II UK Ltd.” and the fake title of the film being used was “The Mighty Thursday Mourning,” written in a font like that of the comic book-style The Mighty Thor logo.

The film was shot with 2D Arri Alexa cameras, and will be post-converted into 3D for the theatrical release. Director Alan Taylor didn’t want to make a 3D film because he was not educated in the process. Despite the post-conversion plans, he was not shooting the film with an eye for how it could look in 3D.

Taylor describes himself as a “recovering tv director”. He compares directing this sequel to directing an episode of television, explaining that this is a volume two of a saga and he is trying to put his stamp on it like he does for the tv episodes he directs. His main goals were to add more weight, history, and texture than seen or felt in the first film.

New Characters:

Darcy (Kat Dennings) has an intern named Ian Boothby played by Jonathan Howard (World War Z).

The story begins at a time of real strife in the nine realms. A group of invaders known as The Marauders has come to weaken the Asgardian army. Inside the Marauders’ armore we’ll see some weaponry that we’re familiar with.